Session guys, what do you use in the studio or home (remote sessions)?

Catthan · April 2016

Hello,

I'm curious about this.

A plethora of amps seems to have been the way to go for some time but now modellers are good but also budgets are tight so showing up with loads of gear and going crazy with meticulous mic'ing (sometimes using >1 mics) of more than 1 cab/ amp can be time consuming.

I guess racks were hotter in the 80s - 90s where music called for heavilly processed sounds with lower than pedals noise floor.

So, what's the deal? What do you use and why?

I'm hearing a lot of /13, AC30 and princetone, moreso than modded Marshalls.

Jangly single coil sounds that are fat but cut through well seem quite relevant too.

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks

StuartMac290 · April 2016

Tone King Imperial
Bad Cat Black Cat head
Budda Superdrive 45 head
65 Amps 2x12 cab

Covers all my bases.

veldt666 · April 2016

83 Fender Super Champ, c/w EVM10. or a Sessionette 75 1 X 12, c/w an EVM12L.

digitalscream · April 2016

I use my Victory Kraken and Jet City JCA50H, run through a reactive dummy load and straight into my interface - and then apply cab impulses.

Why?

Because it sounds bloody awesome, and - to all intents and purposes - is basically indistinguishable from the real thing once you've got it in a mix. Not only that, but it takes all the guesswork out of setting up mics (and gives you all sorts of options that you don't realistically have in the real world), and allows recording levels at home which don't involve being assaulted by the wife.

From a home-recording perspective, a reactive load (like the AMT PowerEater or Suhr Reactive Load) will absolutely be the best money you'll spend.

johnonguitar · April 2016

There's a UK session scene?

digitalscream · April 2016

OK, so I missed the "session guys" bit, but...I'm doing a lot of home recording at the moment, so I almost count (even if the sessions are just for me right now).

exocet · April 2016

johnonguitar said:

There's a UK session scene?

I think there is but not like L.A in the 70's / 80's!

My neighbour (guitarist) has a little studio in his garage. He does a lot of "incidental music" for TV and ads.

There's another guitarist that I know that does something similar from a little studio in Cambridgeshire - he will record guitar parts remotely for other artists and send them as digital files.

p90fool · April 2016

I still do a few bits and pieces, mainly recorded at home, but I've done a few days at Monnow Valley and a couple of other studios in the past year.

Amp-wise I haven't spotted any particular trends. Personally I've been using a couple of Jet City heads, my Princeton and a home-built tweed Princeton clone.
The guys I've been working just use whatever is at hand or their current favourites.

I've yet to see any modellers in use in pro studios, but that's largely because the sessions I do tend to be fairly rootsy or old school.

Most pro engineers can mic a real cab pretty satisfactorily quicker than most people can programme a preset anyway, so time is not really much of an issue.

Catthan · April 2016

Thanks for the replies so far.

I have a basic home rack rig consisting of a Boogie studio preamp, a 2NT Live (reactive AFAIK) and a Behringer preamp straight into a zoom TAC2 thunderbolt and straight into Logic.

It does the job pretty well and I apply fx in the DAW.

I've only done 3 label jobs and plenty of indie projects but as work is slowly picking up I'm looking at what pros use and I see a lot of ac30 flavours for single coils (Matchless, BadCat, /13) etc.

So I've been thinking whether I need to equip myself better in that area although through the studio pre with treble cranked and a p90 tele I get convincing chimey SC sounds.

I was recently called down at LCM to do a session and the producer was really thrilled by the fact that I plugged my Boogie+2NT Live straight to the interface and minimised set up down to 0 time so I guess there's scope for quality modellers.

Whereas, the last label session I did at Blast studios here in Newcastle for the UK equivalent of a "Disney artist" the producer wasn't thrilled about my Mesa LSC + 2x12 + pedalboard and the overall set up time which was practically low in terms of lugging everything in, plugging in etc but getting a good signal of the tone as we wanted it took some iterations.

Still, I can't help wondering whether I'm missing out on anything. Mainly on the ac30 side.

There's no point in me buying anything yet unless there is a business case for it but I'd like to have an idea of what works.

Princetons and ac30 variants seem to be a good call from what I'm reading here and elsewhere.

I'd think I have the princeton basis covered as the studio pre shares DNA with a Boogie Mk which started as a modded princeton but there's smth about the top end of ac30 variants and how they sit in the mix which makes me think that there's little negotiating with the amp to get a good tone quickly.

Modulus_Amps · April 2016

Check out Tim Pierces set up, need a basement for the cabs to be set up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi52VLZ5nV0

from about 10min in.....

Catthan · April 2016

Thanks @Modulus_Amps,

I follow Tim Pierce "religiously" and his home set up is beyond impressive and well thought out imho.

The fact that he blends 2 mics going in diff. niche preamps and then into a line mixer is amazing.

He also puts his fx after the the mic pres too which I think overall helps with the sound quality.

I'm kinda trying the same with the stereo outs of my Boogie studio pre.

One side goes to 2NT Live (shure 57) into input 1 of the TAC2 and the other goes straight into TAC2 input 2.

Then in Logic I load the Torpedo wall of sound plugin for input2 channel and there I put a 121 on to the same cab as in the Torpedo rack unit plugged to input1.

Then I send both channels into an aux track which controls overall gtr level but I can blend the 2 mics to my liking via the individual tracks volume levels.
Really happy I came up with this (not rocket science but I'm not very experienced in DAWs and home recording techniques)

johnonguitar · April 2016

Catthan;1045099" said:
Thanks @Modulus_Amps,

I follow Tim Pierce "religiously" and his home set up is beyond impressive and well thought out imho.The fact that he blends 2 mics going in diff. niche preamps and then into a line mixer is amazing.He also puts his fx after the the mic pres too which I think overall helps with the sound quality.

I'm kinda trying the same with the stereo outs of my Boogie studio pre.One side goes to 2NT Live (shure 57) into input 1 of the TAC2 and the other goes straight into TAC2 input 2. Then in Logic I load the Torpedo wall of sound plugin for input2 channel and there I put a 121 on to the same cab as in the Torpedo rack unit plugged to input1. Then I send both channels into an aux track which controls overall gtr level but I can blend the 2 mics to my liking via the individual tracks volume levels.

Really happy I came up with this (not rocket science but I'm not very experienced in DAWs and home recording techniques)

He's a total gear nut though. The amount of guitars that have been recorded solely with a single 57 is astonishing.

Mic'ing acoustics... Now that's where it's at!

Modulus_Amps · April 2016

Big time gear nut, Pete Thorn too, but the ideas are there for a easy to use studio for professional work. I find it a pain having to set everything up for home recording, and I am not that good at it. I think if you have the tech though @digitalscream suggestion would work well for a UK setting, it is What Pete Thorn does for allot of recording too

digitalscream · April 2016

Modulus_Amps said:

Big time gear nut, Pete Thorn too, but the ideas are there for a easy to use studio for professional work. I find it a pain having to set everything up for home recording, and I am not that good at it. I think if you have the tech though @digitalscream suggestion would work well for a UK setting, it is What Pete Thorn does for allot of recording too

Well, the way I see it...the only things required for my setup are, in reverse order of the signal path:

Computer

Audio Interface

Reactive dummy load (and possibly one of those cheap isolating transformers - I use an Orchid)

Amp

Effects

Guitar

Given that anybody who's considering recording these days will already have everything except the dummy load, it's not that much of a stretch in terms of tech

The thing is, a decent reactive load + impulses is effectively the same as using a Torpedo Live rack unit, but for a fraction of the price. Hell, you can even just use the Wall of Sound III plugin with it for identical response.

Vaiai · April 2016

Kemper if you have the cash or Even a POD HD 500X if you are on a budget. Good enough for recording firect and in a mix it does the job.

Kemper is damn good as is AxeFX and more recently the Helix - all good options for having all your sounds and amps with you. Kemper is a preferred stusio artists one as you can bring your patches on a stick and use the Kemper in the studio - most have one and an AxeFX (they both do different things well!)

I got a Victory V30 last year and it does everything well - a 2x12 and that would cover a lot of bases.

hubobulous · April 2016

I watched a rig rundown of Def Leppard's Phil Collen recently where he mentions that the album he was touring at the time was recorded completely on Guitar Rig 4. Obviously other work went on after that, but simple software gives professional results.

thomasross20 · April 2016

digitalscream;1044853" said:
I use my Victory Kraken and Jet City JCA50H, run through a reactive dummy load and straight into my interface - and then apply cab impulses.

Why?

Because it sounds bloody awesome, and - to all intents and purposes - is basically indistinguishable from the real thing once you've got it in a mix. Not only that, but it takes all the guesswork out of setting up mics (and gives you all sorts of options that you don't realistically have in the real world), and allows recording levels at home which don't involve being assaulted by the wife.

From a home-recording perspective, a reactive load (like the AMT PowerEater or Suhr Reactive Load) will absolutely be the best money you'll spend.

Sounds perfect to me.
I'm currently using toneport presets but would go with that setup when I upgrade.

thomasross20 · April 2016

hubobulous;1045393" said:
I watched a rig rundown of Def Leppard's Phil Collen recently where he mentions that the album he was touring at the time was recorded completely on Guitar Rig 4. Obviously other work went on after that, but simple software gives professional results.

Yes, it's definitely pretty good...
My album is sounding excellent, for example

Hmmm good point... Acoustics need mic'd...

What's an impulse, is that just the sampler ?

John_A · April 2016

What's the difference, in terms of recorded sound between a resistive load like the Jettenuator and a reactive load?

hubobulous · April 2016

A reactive load simulates the two way relationship between the amp and cab. It therefore is a closer realisation of the sound that you'd have if putting a mic in front of a 4x12 for example.

Resistive, in simple terms, attenuates the volume only.

thomasross20 · April 2016

I must check out that Def Leppard album to hear what it sounds like.

Some reactive loads are pants - I tried one and it was a bit hissy and flat. I bet Suhr do great ones.

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Session guys, what do you use in the studio or home (remote sessions)?

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